Turkey Hill (company)

Turkey Hill Dairy is an American brand of iced tea, ice cream and other beverages and frozen desserts distributed throughout the United States and internationally. It is based in Lancaster County, Pennsylvania and owned by The Kroger Company.

The company is operated independently from Turkey Hill Minit Markets, a chain of more than 260 gas station convenience stores that carry Turkey Hill products in Pennsylvania, Ohio and Indiana.[1]

In 2011, Turkey Hill opened The Turkey Hill Experience, a 17,000 square foot attraction based in Columbia, Pennsylvania[2] that pays homage to Turkey Hill’s history while highlighting its ice cream and iced tea-making processes.[3]

Turkey Hill Dairy began in 1931 during the Great Depression, when farmer Armor Frey began selling bottled milk to neighbors from his sedan.[4] Frey's family obtained the farm directly from Thomas and Richard Penn, sons of William Penn, and the sheepskin deed to the farm refers to "turkeyhill".[4] Turkey Hill Ridge had been given its name by the Conestoga Indians for the wild turkeys found there, so the family decided to name their dairy after the name on the deed and the nearby geographical feature.[5][6]

Armor sold the dairy to sons Glen, Emerson and Charles Frey in 1947. Milking the cows and delivering milk to customers provided these three families with a satisfactory income.[4]

In 1954,[7] the dairy began making ice cream, which sold well in Lancaster County, and in 1981, they started selling the ice cream through a few independent stores in Philadelphia.[4] Turkey Hill quickly began to expand into New Jersey and up the East Coast. In the early 2000s (decade) Turkey Hill's products were distributed in places further west, such as Buffalo, Pittsburgh, and Cleveland. Over the next few years, Turkey Hill rapidly expanded its distribution area, and its teas are now sold in 45 states and the ice cream is now sold in 43 states.

The dairy and the stores were sold in 1985 to Dillons, a subsidiary of Kroger.[8] Despite the new ownership, the Frey family was heavily involved in the day-to-day operations of the company, as Charles Frey, the youngest of company founder Armor Frey’s sons, remained as president. Charles was succeeded as president by Quintin Frey (son of Emerson Frey) in 1991. On May 28, 2013, The Kroger Company announced Quintin Frey’s retirement.[9]

In 2011, Turkey Hill partnered with PPL Renewable Energy and the Lancaster County Solid Waste Management Authority to purchase the electricity generated by two General Electricwind turbines on the Frey Farm landfill adjacent to the company’s manufacturing facility. The wind turbines are capable of producing enough power to supply 25 percent of the company’s annual electricity demand.[10]

The Turkey Hill Iced Tea lineup includes more than 20 seasonal and full-time flavors.[12] Traditional flavors are made with a manufacturing process that includes cold bottling, cold shipping and cold storage in stores.

The Turkey Hill Experience includes a variety of interactive displays aimed at entertaining both children and adults. In addition to learning about Turkey Hill Dairy’s history and the iced tea and ice cream manufacturing processes, visitors can also make their own virtual ice cream flavor, an experience that uses green-screen technology to allow visitors to star in a Turkey Hill TV commercial. An exhibit called the Turkey Hill Taste Lab,[21] opened in June 2013, Allows visitors to bring their virtual ice cream creation to life, a hands-on, educational experience where you develop and taste the flavor you created. Seating is limited in the Taste Lab, reservations are required and a nominal additional fee applies.

The Turkey Hill Experience is located in the former Ashley and Bailey Silk Mill, part of which was originally built in 1899.[22] The location had several owners and uses in the decades that followed, before being abandoned after the Tidy Products company stopped using it as a sewing factory in the late 1970s. The building was vacant for more than 25 years before Turkey Hill began to work with a developer to repurpose the building.[23]

On December 19, 1974, the stores won a legal battle overturning the so-called blue laws that prohibited retailers opening on Sunday, and in 1976, they became the first company to offer self-servicegasoline in Pennsylvania.[24]

In 1979, Turkey Hill Minit Market purchased 36 Louden Hill stores. In July 1985, they purchased a number of 7-Eleven stores and six Ideal Markets. That same year the Turkey Hill Minit Markets chain was purchased by Kroger. In Lancaster County, Turkey Hill Minit Markets were the overwhelming convenience store choice; in some cases, stores were located as close as three blocks apart. In the 1990s, Turkey Hill and competitors Sheetz and Wawa entered each other's home turf, as if a tacit understanding that they wouldn't compete with each other had expired. John Hofmeister, president of Shell Oil commented on the new situation in sworn testimony before the U.S. Senate Committee on the Judiciary in March 2006:[26] "We are seeing healthy new retail competition emerging with brands such as Wawa, Sheetz, and Turkey Hill."

In 1998, Turkey Hill opened its 249th store in Hazleton, Pennsylvania. This store was the first of many stores to open with Food Service. Food Service offers fresh hoagies, sandwiches, pizza, and many other hot foods. Many new stores are built with food service and car washes. Beginning in 1999, new larger stores were opened with more of an emphasis on selling gasoline. About 200 of the 240 stores in Central Pennsylvania have gas pumps.[27]